Miss Hannah K. Burlingham, 1842-1901.

Miss Burlingham was born on March 17th. 1842. She
was the eldest daughter of Henry Burlingham of Evesham, Worcestershire, who
died in January 1896, at the age of 81. Her mother died four months previously
in August 1895, in her 85th. year. Miss Burlingham died on May 15th. 1901 at
Evesham and was buried in the Bengeworth Cemetery, near Evesham.

The father of Miss Hannah Kilham Burlingham was a
member of the Society of Friends, and reading between the lines in her poems,
we can discern the godliness and piety of that Quaker household. We see, too,
the love and respect the children had for their parents, and the blessing that
came to them in answer to their mother's prayers. We also gather that when Miss
Burlingham was about the age of 12, three deaths entered that family circle,
one of them being the mother's eldest son, her "dearest, eldest
born".

As a girl Miss Burlingham was able to express her
thoughts with ease, and in language that was suitable; and at school she was
the recipient of a prize for the excellence of her poem describing one of the
school excursions. Not long after she became of age, she withdrew from the
Quakers and became attached to the "brethren", either in 1863 or
1864. Now Miss Burlingham commenced writing her poems and hymns, her best
compositions probably being written between 1865 and 1875, largely before she
attained the age of 30. In her earlier days, Miss Burlingham was a frequent
contributor to the "British Herald", edited by William Reid, a
Scottish clergyman, and these were repeated in "Reid's Praise Book,
1872". Perhaps the best known of these is "O Jesus, Friend unfailing,
How dear art Thou to me" translated on June 13th. 1865 from the German of
Samuel Christian Gottfried Kuster who died near Berlin in 1838. It appeared in
the "British Herald" the next December, then commencing "'Tis
well with me, O Friend unfailing". Although not more than 23 years of age,
she could say in the words of this hymn:

Her translations from the German were considered extremely
good ... No doubt Miss Burlingham's interest had been awakened
by those translations which at that time were bringing new
sources of comfort and edification to English believers from the
rich storehouse of German hymnody. She was extremely fond of
music, >yet unable to play any instrument; for although
the singing of hymns was practised, music was rarely taught in
Quaker households then. Perhaps no hymn of hers is to be found
in so many of the collections of the "brethren" as
"I'm waiting for Thee, Lord" and its wistfulness
touches the spirit and sets the heart longing. It was this hymn
that led Mr. Darby to indite one in a similar strain; and again
it inspired a later writer to compose "Thou art waiting for
me, Lord", reminding us that the Lord is waiting, like us,
for that hour unknown to any "but the Father". Several
of the hymns of Miss Burlingham bring out the truth of the
Lord's Coming, for her own heart had been directed both
"into the love of God and into the patience of the
Christ". Some hymns owe their popularity to the beauty of
the first verse, or even to the first line, but with those of
Miss Burlingham the beauty is often sustained throughout the
hymn. She wrote with freshness and vigour, combining sweetness
with strength. Objective and subjective truth both have their
place in happy proportion.

No hymns of hers have proved more useful than her
Gospel hymns. In these the great truths of the Gospel ring out with the
clearness of a bell, in harmony with the word of God. The burden of these fine
hymns is "We declare unto you glad tidings". "Through this Man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are
justified from all things". Many of her hymns are found in Dr. Wolston's
"Evangelist's Hymnal".

It had often been the privilege of Miss Burlingham to hear
the Gospel preached in purity and power, and by preachers to
whom was given much of the "fulness of the blessing of the
Gospel of Christ" and she herself entered in good measure
into the greatness of God's plan of salvation. Having in her
youthful days "tasted that the Lord is gracious", Miss
Burlingham could plead with those in the morning of life, who
were indifferent to the claims of the Saviour. She could,
moreover, be for the encouragement of those who had been called
to be the heralds of salva-tion. In Miss Burlingham's poems of
"Christian Life and Experience" there is that which is
of abiding value, as another has truly said, "her poems are
the fruit of exercise"; lessons learned in the school of
God, taught by disappointment, sorrow and bereavement. Even as a
girl she had known the grief that falls upon the happy family
circle when death enters. Said someone who knew more intimately
than most, "I never met any one who loved her Bible
as she did. Though she was interested in current topics, they
were wholly subservient to her one great interest. Her love for
her Lord and Saviour was deep and real, and one felt that with
her, all else must take a back place".

Miss Burlingham was evidently a lover of nature, as
her poems abundantly testify. We are told that she was very fond of a long
country ramble. She must have been fond of flowers, and could draw spiritual
lessons from "crimson roses" or the "frail convolvulus". A
holiday in the Scilly Isles afforded great delight. Yet "The flower
fadeth" and in one of her beautiful poems she wrote "Ours are flowers
that know no fading, Everlasting is their bloom" It is found in the
"New Times of Refreshing, Hymn Book"

In her "In Memoriam", she writes of the
departure of her own father, whose death occurred 5 years before her own. He
died in his 81st. year, his declining years marked by grace and wisdom,
"the path of the just.... that shineth more and more unto the perfect
day" .

The poetry of Miss Burlingham appeared in various
periodicals and hymn-books, a number of later poems coming out in
"The Christian Friend and Instructor", but most of her best known
verse was published a few months after her decease in "Wayside
Songs", a little volume of intrinsic worth. In the preface the editor
writes, "It is to be regretted that the book was not brought out during
the life-time of the writer, and under her own supervision; but although
often urged to publish what she had written in a collected form, her friends
were unable to overcome her reluctance to do so".

Her lines "The glory shines before me; I
cannot linger here", set forth the longing of the saint nearing the home
beyond. Miss Burlingham was not far on in her 60th. year when a sudden illness
developed, a form of meningitis, and in 3 days she was gone. Whilst ill she
made an effort to sing a hymn and chose, "For all the saints who from
their labours rest" by Dr William How. Dying on the 15th. May 1901, her
body was laid to rest in the little walled-in Cemetery at Bengeworth,
outside Evesham.